In this article, we will be listing out the best martial arts for women and the reasons why they are effective and applicably in real-life situations.
Crime knows no gender but it's a fact that women are more often targeted in theft, sexually related crimes, and domestic abuses. Due to this, more women have been enrolling to martial arts and self defense lessons in order to protect themselves.
The average attacker will often be bigger, stronger, and faster, than the average female, more reason to equip themselves of the basic knowledge and skills to handle the situation, while prioritizing their safety.
You can also view out other articles like The Most Aggressive Martial Arts Disciplines, 5 MMA Must-Haves For Beginners, and Best Martial Arts For Self-Defense!
Best Martial Arts For Women
The keyword is "best martial arts for women". Women that are victims of crimes doesn't need to stay in the fight, nor beat up the perpetrator, because that will only increase the risks that their safety will be compromised.
Defending oneself is as much as possible ending it as fast as you can, or holding the perpetrator immobile so you can as for further help. With that being said, the following below are the best martial arts for women.
6. Judo
Judo starts off this list as one of the martial arts for women to learn self-defense with. It emphasizes close range combat, aiming for maximum efficiency in taking your opponents down.
Judo utilizes weight, leverage, balance, and pressure to take an opponent down. These will be helpful because again, an average attacker will be stronger and bigger than an average woman.
The techniques that will be learned in Judo comprises of throws, trips, flips, holds, and other moves that will enable you to take your opponent down.
Judo training also enhances your strength and body awareness.
A Judo practitioner is actually very dangerous when on the streets. Clotheslining someone is simple for them, much more throwing you down hard with your head bouncing on the concrete floor.
5. Karate
The main reason why it is in this list is its sheer solid nature that Karate possesses. It trains students to deliver strikes at maximum power and force, so that you can disable an opponent as fast as possible.
Modern Karate incorporate punches, kicks, grapples, takedowns, and blocks. Indeed, Karate has an array of strikes in its arsenal, and you can most definitely apply it in real-life situations too.
In fact karate a long with taekwondo are two of the most popular martial arts that parents elect for their children, especially daughters, to enroll in at a young age.
4. Boxing
Boxing is an effective martial art for women for the reason that it trains them how to punch. It teaches you how to properly execute your punches and it enhances head movement, footwork, reaction time, endurance and many more.
Almost all attacks begin while you are in a standing position, and this is where Boxing comes handy.
Its main focus is striking with your punches and this means that your hands will be very experienced and comfortable throwing punches.
You can use your hands to throw punches at the most sensitive areas of the body like the liver, nose bridge, throat, jaw hinge, groin, kidneys, and etc. Since you are trained, you will most likely be accurate with these.
Those strikes to critical areas will most definitely knock out an attacker unconscious, or leave them screaming in pain, while you get to exit safely and ask for further help.
3. Muay Thai
There is a reason why Muay Thai is nicknamed, "The Art of Eight Limbs". It was designed to use all of our limbs as weapons; hands, elbows, knees, legs, you will learn how to utilize all of these.
Muay Thai fighters are very deadly and they strike with power. It is created to fight using any body tool available, a testimony that confirms it is applicable in any dangerous real-life situation.
This martial art would be better for those who are younger, and already or somewhat physically fit because Muay Thai training is harsh, difficult, and painful.
This is the reason why Muay Thai isn't just good in terms of learning self-defense, but it's an excellent martial art to shape discipline and overall lifestyle too.
Due to that, trained Muay Thai fighters are throw much heavier punches and kicks. Imagine receive knee or elbow strikes, that can bring a lot of pain. How much more in the streets where you knee an attacker in the groin, you will surely escape safely!
2. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is one of the best martial arts for self defense especially when your attacker is much bigger or stronger than you. Learning BJJ techniques and executing them well, you can leverage yourself to immobilize the attackers.
BJJ, for short, is a martial art focused on ground-based grappling. It is a mixture of takedown, grapples, submission locks and many more. BJJ is well-tested in terms of effectivity in street fights and self-defense.
The nice thing about BJJ is that you have a variety of attack and defense entry points. Chokes can make your attacker unconscious, joint locks can lead to dislocations, and there are moves that can even lead to broken bones.
1. Krav Maga
Krav Maga is a martial art that originated from Israel. The primary focus of Krav Maga is incapacitating an attacked as quickly and easily as possible, while putting oneself in least dangerous situations. This is why it is also referred to as "The Art Of Staying Alive".
Krav Maga utilize groin kicks, eye gouges, and other simple ways to dismantle an attacker. Included in the lessons are situational awareness, which is important so you can avoid conflicts before it can potentially happen in the first place.
Their techniques are easy to learn and execute because it relies more on reflex and instincts. Krav Maga was designed for life and death situations, and its moves and techniques are simple but effective. For women and girls, this martial art is excellent.
Bottom Line
There you have it, these are the best martial arts for women for them to learn self-defense. Keep in mind that again, the priority is to get out of a dangerous situation unharmed and safe.
As for the ideal age for women to take classes, there isn't really any but to be able to fully master the martial art, starting at a young age would be better.
Martial arts for women not only teaches them how to defend, but it also gives them a different perspective in approaching any situation in life.
There will be a lot of benefits that martial arts give to women, one of those is how to avoid dangerous situations in the first place. It will not be an easy journey for anyone, and most students stop just after a couple sessions.
The advice is to just keep on going. Once your body will adapt to the harsh nature of martial art training, you'll learn to love martial arts!